Our subject under consideration is,

Death and Resurrection

Seventh Day Adventist say:

“When Jesus returns at the end of time, all who have died believing in Christ will have a bodily resurrection and go to Heaven with Him. This is the first resurrection.

This is the Good News! Believers have the hope of eternal life because they place their trust in the Lord Jesus.

“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16,17, ESV).

The first resurrection happens when Christ returns. This resurrection is for those who were faithful to Christ and died. These resurrected people will join all the faithful Christians who are still living. Together they will go to Heaven.”

In reply,

The next issue we will deal with here is the idea of a bodily resurrection.

What is a bodily resurrection, what does it mean?

If all that was meant here by a bodily resurrection was that the body with which the individual is to receive and be resurrected consists of a physically or tangible body whether terrestrial or celestial then we would have no problem, however according to orthodoxy there is much more to it than this.

According to orthodoxy:

“Man is a twofold being; body and spirit or soul. Our Lord warned: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28). Paul informs “. . . but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16). What part of man is mortal? The answer is simple. It is the body that dies. James informs: “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (Jas. 2:26). This is the Bible definition of death, i.e., the separation of body and spirit. Only that which has died is susceptible to the resurrection.”

We will not get into the misapplication and interpretation of the texts quoted above in support of this false theory, but suffice to say the implication here is that the soul is a separate entity and is immortal, and thus when you die only the flesh really dies. Thus, it is only the body that needs to be resurrected, that the soul might be reunited to it.

Of course, this contradicts the Scriptural testimony viz.,

“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (soul, a sentient being).” Gen 2:7

First the organism or body was formed from the dust of the earth, and then the spirit of life, called ‘breath of life,’ was instilled in the body or organism, which in turn resulted in the creation of a living soul, or sentient being.

A soul is the combination of body and breath; it is a living, thinking creature. Man does not have a soul. Man IS a soul.

“And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” 1 Cor 15:45

This scripture clearly states that the first man WAS MADE or BECAME a living soul; there is no mention of a soul being placed into the man.

And the process of dissolution, death, is in harmony with these facts.

“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit (“ruach” Strong’s # 7307, breath of life) shall return unto God who gave it.” Eccl 12:7

If the breath or spirit of life be withdrawn, death results. Now the question is,

What dies? Does the breath or spirit of life die?

Surely not; it never had sentient being, it is a principle or power, like electricity; it has no thought, no feeling; it could not die.

Does the body die?

We answer, No. The body may lose the life with which the Father animates it, but the body of itself, apart from the breath or spirit of life, had no consciousness, no feeling, no sense, and could not, therefore, be said to die; it was inanimate before the breath or spirit of life came into it; it was animate while the breath or spirit of life was in it; it becomes inanimate again, or dead, when the spirit of life is withdrawn.

What, then, dies?

We answer that it is the soul that dies– the sentient being ceases. Let us remember that the sentient being was produced by the union of the breath or spirit of life with an organism, and that the separation or dissolution of these two causes the cessation of the being, the soul–death.

“The soul that sins it shall die.” Ezek 18:20

Thus, it is proven, the soul is NOT a separate entity apart from the body nor is it immortal as some believe, else it could not die.

We continue with this in our next post.